Photos of what you cook and bake

I would try to lay the meat on a “bed” of vegs/pasta and not display them separately, if you allow me to make a suggestion here. But your food looks great anyway. :slight_smile:

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Thanks! I do try that, and it works when we’re only 4-6 ppl round the table, but when I cook such menus for the entire family (11.5 ppl), due to the quickness I in which have to plate the main…and then I forget :frowning:
The outlay of my kitchen doesn’t allow for a 2nd person to help plating. Shame really as two of my three offspring are professional chefs.

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This thread is really exciting! Love EastEnders fancy and sophisticated presentation! I’m a simpleton however and especially when hungover, pizza is my guilty pleasure. Sourdough bianca with iberico coppa and manchego after baking. Simples.

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I’d totally eat that

So would I.

Oh yumm! I’d gladly have a piece of that😍

(psst, that fancy faffing about is only for guests)

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Guests bring pleasure twice. When they arrive and when they leave :slight_smile:

Just to show-off a bit, the iberico bellota coppa is homemade, it took 3 months to get it as dry as I wanted (~40% loss)

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Wow.

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Looks delicious! It must be, if you have to keep it locked up. :wink:

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we need more details - i’m fascinated that you home made your own coppa ham. how did you learn? pls don’t say youtube…:stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve been messing with all kinds of charcuterie for a while now. Actually, a coppa (or any whole muscle for that matter) is one of the easiest and safest way to try drying meat. I reccomend Marianski father and son series of books, they are amazing. Not necessarily the “best” recipes, but very good process and explanations.

In my case, the coppa is belota, I vacuum seal with the salt and spices (typically only pepper and hot pimenton) and leave in the fridge to cure for about a month (to allow the salt to penetrate the meat). After that, fill in a beef bung, put in a net and contaminate with mold to slow down the drying. Then its a waiting game, my dryager maintains 75% humidity and 13c temp and for an average coppa it takes about 3-4 months to get it to lose about 40% of its weights (30% is the safety point, but we like them around 40% as the flavors are more pronounced)

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I appreciate it’s fun to make your own - call it a hobby if you will but how many Kilos of premium Coppa from Italy would you need to import before you had covered the cost of your drying fridge?

I also use it to dry age my beef. A typical Swiss ribeye @ 2kg costs me CHF 115 or 5.75 per 100 gr. If we assume a “standard” 300 gr. steak, the average price is circa 50 at a restaurant. In other words, I save around CHF32 per steak (my steak @ CHF 17.25 vs. restaurant at CHF 50). In other words, I need to eat circa 62 steaks to break even.

Finally, the average quality of Italian pigs is inferior to the Spanish ones, so I don’t buy Italian coppa anyway.

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Interesting figures. Thanks.

You’ve got a lot of admiration from me! It’s definitely next level cooking from you.

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Yup. That’s some dedication.

And I felt proud because I make my own tomato-sauce and bread :wink:

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After nearly a month of feeding 2x a day, my sourdough starter is now super strong and healthy. :slight_smile:

Ive been baking quite a lot, and now spend otherwise mundane working hours dreaming about different flour combinations, hydration percentages, proofing schedules, etc.

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Nice ear!

It looks absolutely yummy, Dreadveganchef!

I had a terrible urge to cook roast beef and I was in Aldi Deutschland today they had 1kg of beef for roasting for euro 14. They claimed it was ripened for at least three weeks, if it turns out OK I will post a photo.

They also had some British scones which I just ate with cherry jam but clotted cream failed, not a bad attempt but I would not recommend them. Maybe I should have given them a blast in the oven first.

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Dry aged brisket smash burgers on a sourdough pretzel brioche bun with gouda cheese. Goes down with a hoppy Saison really well. Now we need Ireland to win tonight!

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